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Federal authorities scheduled a noon news conference Monday in Newark at which J. Gilmore Childers, the First Assistant U.S. Attorney in New Jersey, was to announce the agreement.
But state Attorney General Paula Dow – Christie’s top federal prosecutor for the state — got the drop and sent out a news release first.
Yes, we should all be pulling the same rope. But public deference is important to creating and keeping good relationships among agencies that at times find themselves pursuing the same bad guys.
Jerry DeMarco Publisher/Editor
In this instance, the U.S. Justice Department, in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, did the heavy lifting. But Dow for some reason horned in – a surprise, given the professionalism I’ve personally seen her exhibit in the 15 or so years that I’ve known her.
Dow was an assistant U.S. attorney in the Newark office, once run by her current boss, Christie.
So she, as much as anyone, understands how these things work. New Jersey is getting $2.7 million from the settlement, one of all but three states to receive restitution. But it still was a federal case.
Suffice to say that if Christie were still the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey and someone from the AG’s office in Trenton stole his thunder, there’d have been hell to pay.
To his credit, Childers didn’t back down:
“The state played a limited administrative role in this case,” he said. “It is troubling and disappointing that they would take credit for years of tireless work done by federal agents and prosecutors, particularly concerning an issue so important to the people of New Jersey.”
“It is extraordinary,” Daniel C. Richman, a professor at Columbia Law School, told Law360. “The normal way a turf war plays out is through dueling leak programs. It is rare for an office to go on the record.”
Dow’s release claimed that her office led the charge on behalf of New Jersey and all the other states. U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman’s office as mentioned as merely playing a role.
Dow counter-punched: “To call New Jersey’s role ‘administrative’ is a mischaracterization of our significant efforts over several years in developing and analyzing evidence, and negotiating on behalf of the states with the company.”
Rebekah Carmichael, Fishman’s highly capable spokesperson, came right back:
“While pretending to be disinterested in who gets credit, the AG’s office has continued to make claims about its role that are not true.
“The state did not develop the evidence. In fact, because of grand jury secrecy, the AG’s office did not even have access to more ethan 100 witness interviews and millions of documents uncovered by the federal investigation.
“The federal government negotiated the more than $150 million settlement directly with the company. The money returned to the states, including New Jersey’s share, was automatically determined by a formula.”
Carmichael said her statements weren’t about taking credit but to resolve a “dispute over truth.”
Maybe there was a slip-up. Maybe someone hit the “send” button when they shouldn’t have. But that no longer mattered once the gloves were off.
Either way, the angst it caused was buried in a single story, by David Voreacos, the outstanding Bloomberg reporter (Full disclosure: I was once his editor). No one else picked up on it.
It will be interesting to see how both Christie and his successor, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, respond. Will they, if you’ll pardon me, make a federal case out of it?
Better yet: Will reporters have the stones to ask?
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey has posted information and documents from the entire case at: Maxim agreement (USA/NJ)
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